I would say go to the website and download the instructions for the pans. My first cake using the pans didn't turn out perfectly but it was okay and they baked evenly using the instructions I found there . I also stacked it using sps and did not carve a well out.

I've had good luck with these pans (round and square) with one exception, when I tried to foolishly fly too close to the sun:

Please don't try what I did:I wanted to see if I could use a heating core in the middle of the 14" pan, despite the fact that the surface is quite slanty. Ha! Of course, as the batter loosens during baking - the core went tip, tip, tip over and landed on its side, filling partly with batter.Funny!

Happy ending: I caught it in time, saved the cake, the day and possibly the world. (Cake can do that, right?)

Anyway, just turn your oven down to 325 F, increase the baking time and don't fuss with a heating core. (Good advice for non-topsy-turvy, large cakes, too!)

So, the pans themselves are great and you save a ton of batter that would just get carved away. (Well, depending on your method...)

I've had good luck with these pans (round and square) with one exception, when I tried to foolishly fly too close to the sun:

Please don't try what I did:I wanted to see if I could use a heating core in the middle of the 14" pan, despite the fact that the surface is quite slanty. Ha! Of course, as the batter loosens during baking - the core went tip, tip, tip over and landed on its side, filling partly with batter.Funny!

Happy ending: I caught it in time, saved the cake, the day and possibly the world. (Cake can do that, right?)

Anyway, just turn your oven down to 325 F, increase the baking time and don't fuss with a heating core. (Good advice for non-topsy-turvy, large cakes, too!)

So, the pans themselves are great and you save a ton of batter that would just get carved away. (Well, depending on your method...)Uh... thanks for listening?

xo, j

You are actually supposed to put batter in the center of the heating core, at the same level as the batter in the pan. You tip the cake out of the core and uh the hole with it. Stick it together with icing. I put heating cores in everything over 12" and anything deeper than 2", even if it is small in diameter.

Appreciate the tips. I am considering getting a set of these pans, since I have an order for a topsy turvy cake in a few weeks. Have experimented with my own cutting twice. So far I have not been thrilled by my results. And a lot of wasted cake! Thanks Annabakes about the heating core. I use it for regular cakes but was wondering how it would sit properly in these.